Zen Teh’s Garden State Palimpsest series is comprised of photographic sculptures. Images of the natural environment in Singapore - ranging from mangroves to forests to natural bodies of water - were transferred onto leftover bits of marble sourced from construction sites and from factories by the artist. The choice of images were determined by interviews conducted with Singaporeans who recall life in traditional kampong communities in Singapore, and represent not commonly witnessed forms of cultural nostalgia, but a memorializing of local lifeworlds that encompass non-regulated interaction with the natural environment. As the artist puts it: “The images are taken from parts of existing Singapore that resonates with the kampong residents’ account of their natural environment in their kampongs some 30-40 years ago. Many of these actual sites no longer exist so I had to took images from other sites to represent the ideas in their account.”
